Dream credit card feature

[iced]

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@UpperNwGuy wrote:

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@Kree wrote:

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Was trying to look up the actual rule, but I might be mistaken.  My handbook just says "the federal government mandates..."  but doesn't give the actual rule.  So lowest class versus lowest cost makes a difference.  Google does respond with other people discussing the Lowest Airfare Available, so who knows.

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https://www.gsa.gov/travel/plan-book/transportation-airfare-rates-pov-rates-etc/city-pair-program-cp...

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Nice link. The bullet point that they negotiated a rate that offers fully-refundable and last-seat tickets suggests that the tickets are likely booked into the higher-fare economy buckets (Y, for instance), even if the negotiated contract price with the airline is much lower.

[Anonymous]

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@iced wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

I do wish airline cards were like hotel cards and let me buy elite status with a super premium card. I would drop some cash on annual fee for that. 

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The airline tiers would be destroyed overnight if this happened. It’s already rare for a top tier elite to score a free upgrade to FC on any worthwhile route due to the sheer numbers of elites now, and premium economy is being almost entirely devoured by the existing elites well before check-in. CC membership would increase their ranks and make scoring so much as an exit row seat on some airlines a challenge, even for elites. Priority boarding is already available to half the passengers on a typical flight (look at the United Group 2 lines next time you’re at an airport). The only benefit that would survive to be of any value would be free checked bags, which one can get today with a CC. The irony thus is that by being able to pay an AF to join the elite, the elite will cease to be elite (for what that’s even worth today).

The feature I’d like to see on cards is a way to manage security and features via mobile app. For example, disable all of my cards with an app then re enable them on demand when I’m using them, or disable (on demand) the ability to use a card for an online transaction, swipe, chip insert, or any combination thereof.

Interesting option ... would use this myself

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[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Definitely OT but somewhat on topic because dream travel cards are a constant thing.

As for Spirit, it's been my favorite airline now for 7 years, hands down.  All of the horror stories come down to folks who refuse to read the TOS, and that works for me because I want others to subsidize my consumption, lol.

Spirit has now canceled 3 flights on me in 2 years -- no compensation other than a travel voucher you have to use in a short period of time.  It never bothered me, I literally pull up Kayak while at the airport and book whatever the next flight is regardless of the cost.  My most recent cancellation happened just a few months ago on one of my famous $25 flights home -- about 35 minutes from boarding.  So I pulled up Kayak, saw a $130 United flight, booked that, and walked over to the United gate and boarded maybe 1.5 hours after original plan.  The $130 flight didn't mean much because I literally save $130 per flight on Spirit, and I absolutely love the flight crew and the newer planes (really great seating, really clean, and I love the tiny fold down trays which hold a tablet perfectly with a slot for it).

I keep an ongoing spreadsheet of the flights I booked versus the next cheapest flight that day, and I save something as much as $20,000 per year -- I can happily deal with a few flight cancellations with no real compensation or rebooking.  Those code shares and rebooking agreements probably cost the airlines $20-$30 per flight leg, no doubt.  I self insure.

But I am the devil for travelers who need amenities and quality.  I would fly 4 hours in cargo if it saves me a buck, haha.  

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No longer can I stand this abuse (Cargo Hold)  ... you need to have Silver Cars waiting for you on arrival along with some one to take care of your luggage and hurry you off to the penthouse of the most exclusive hotel. You are someone who earns the Centurion Card and then says I live like a hobo ... can't stand it anymore. Ban this man from the site I say You bring down the fabulous luxury card issued by Barclays ... oh well got it off my chest. Grat's on your money saving techniques as savings of $20K to $30K in a travel year is immense!

[yfan]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Citi is too focused on high FICO borrowers and this is going to smack them into the wall they deserve to run into (my opinion).  You can't chase top prime borrowers and expect to profit anymore.  It doesn't work that way now that credit scoring has been gamed so well thanks to the internet and millions of data points.

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To be fair, this problem only exists on the margins. By far, most people, regardless of their credit rating, don't care about gaming the credit card rewards and bonus system. Banks have been trying to solve the problem of people being turned off to credit cards altogether and in the process creating incentives for bonus chasers. And those few on the margins can be a big drag when combined with a relatively high reward rate on a business that already runs on thin margins (discounting interest income, which is becoming more scant).

My guess is that long term, we will see a bipolar credit card market - "super premium" cards with high AFs which will have good bonuses to incentivize high spenders and other cards that will be fine rewards cards but will not offer outrageous bonuses. Personally, I would much rather issuers benefited their long term customers by not nerfing everyday benefits and instead made themselves less lucrative for churners.

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@Anonymous wrote:

To be honest, the one feature I would absolutely love would be a high cashback secured credit card where the secured balance earns the same as high yield savings after a period of on time payments or something.  Let me deposit $100,000 into a high yield CD or something earning 1.5% and give me 2% cashback on that secured card.  The bank has almost zero risk, so it can focus on the rare interest paid by some borrowers, and come close to breaking even on swipes versus rewards.

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This already exists on a smaller scale, sort of. Discover Savings currently has an APY of 1.4% and the Discover Debit card earns 1% rewards. Granted the savings account isn't directly connected to the debit card, but transfers from savings to checking is instant.

[Anonymous]

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@yfan wrote:

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This already exists on a smaller scale, sort of. Discover Savings currently has an APY of 1.4% and the Discover Debit card earns 1% rewards. Granted the savings account isn't directly connected to the debit card, but transfers from savings to checking is instant.

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Yeah, I actually asked Discover EO like 20 times if I could just ramp up my IT Secured to $50,000 but they kept saying nope nope nope.  Idiotic limitation on $2500 -- and no interest earned on the deposit!

But 1% really isn't enough anymore, not with 2%, 2.5% and 3% general spend cards out there.

One can hope, though.  

Hell, I used to have an Amex Secured card in the 90s or so.  I loved that card!

[yfan]

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@Kree wrote:

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I blame the federal government mandate that employees/contractors purchase the cheapest flight available.  While it makes sense economically, with many businesses having adopted the same standards, most airlines have spend the last 20 years figuring out how to lower costs. Because the business travelers are guarranteed bookings despite declines in comfort, (assuming the lowest priced flight.) the quality of seating has decreased significantly. Many planes I've been on no longer even offer business class, and the first class on smaller planes are smaller than economy seats were 20 years ago.

I think if flight routes has a list price like meals and hotels, then airlines would start competing on the best quality possible for that price. The business class would rise again, and premium status might have some actual perks.

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Interesting perspective, but I can't agree. First of all, I am pretty sure taxpayer groups would be rightly up in arms if federal contracting was even more of a sweetheart deal than it is today, and as a taxpayer, I am not super sad for government employees - especially after the private jet scandals that just went down last year.

Second, no business, except to the extent of their contract with the government, is required to follow federal cost guidelines. To the extent businesses do so, they do it for their own bottomline, not out of some unwritten obligation to follow government employee/contractor guidelines. In fact, corporate travel expenses - when you include executive travel for both commercial and private planes, have gone UP over the last 20 years.

The reason air travel has become so price competitive is because consumers want it that way. We complain all the time, but when it comes time to choose a flight, we will (in general) still go for the lowest price. After all, the option to actually PAY for a business class or first class ticket hasn't gone anywhere.

[Anonymous]

One big thing about price competition is that there are more discount airlines than ever before and they're flying to big airports, not little podunk ones.

The thing that a lot of folks don't note is that the cheap airlines are taking unused flight windows that the big airlines don't want because few people will put up with the time of travel.  For me, the weird hours is even better because it truly maximizes my vacation time.

For example, the Spirit flight I take to Florida a bunch every year leaves at 5:15am.  It's gruesome for most people but since I get up at 4am daily anyway, it's no big deal!  The return flight lands at 11:59pm -- also gruesome for most people, but it's great for me.  I can fly out of -20 degree weather at 5:15am, land at 9am, Uber to the beach (swim trunks on under my winter clothes), hang out for 12 hours, Uber back to the airport and be home in bed by 1am!  All for $40 in airfare and $40 in ubers, lol.

but MOST people hate the 5:15am flight and really hate arriving at 11:59pm.

Redeyes are dead with the majors (within limits) but the redeye windows are taken up by the cattle class airlines.

So the majors CAN compete on better flight times, for sure, and not have to be as cheap.

[iced]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Redeyes are dead with the majors (within limits) but the redeye windows are taken up by the cattle class airlines.

So the majors CAN compete on better flight times, for sure, and not have to be as cheap.

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Minor nitpick in the scheme of things, but redeyes are most certainly not dead with the majors. SFO/LAX-EWR/JFK/BOS are among the heaviest business routes with redeyes since it's the only way to get from the west coast to the east while still getting in a full business day on the west coast (most same-day flights have to leave the west coast by 2 PM to make it before midnight). Friday redeyes in particular are very heavy with business travelers, and the major airlines are capitalizing on that big time, including lie-flats on these routes.

I myself am a regular on the Friday night redeyes so I can be home before 3 PM on Saturday.

[Anonymous]

I was actually going to write non-transcon redeyes, haha.

The redeyes that the subprime airlines snag are definitely NOT transcon -- and many of them are pretty short flights, too.

[Dalmus]

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@Anonymous wrote:

One big thing about price competition is that there are more discount airlines than ever before and they're flying to big airports, not little podunk ones.

The thing that a lot of folks don't note is that the cheap airlines are taking unused flight windows that the big airlines don't want because few people will put up with the time of travel.  For me, the weird hours is even better because it truly maximizes my vacation time.

For example, the Spirit flight I take to Florida a bunch every year leaves at 5:15am.  It's gruesome for most people but since I get up at 4am daily anyway, it's no big deal!  The return flight lands at 11:59pm -- also gruesome for most people, but it's great for me.  I can fly out of -20 degree weather at 5:15am, land at 9am, Uber to the beach (swim trunks on under my winter clothes), hang out for 12 hours, Uber back to the airport and be home in bed by 1am!  All for $40 in airfare and $40 in ubers, lol.

but MOST people hate the 5:15am flight and really hate arriving at 11:59pm.

Redeyes are dead with the majors (within limits) but the redeye windows are taken up by the cattle class airlines.

So the majors CAN compete on better flight times, for sure, and not have to be as cheap.

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 Being solidly in NON business casual traveler class and taking only 2-3 flight per year at MOST, I actually find that United, American and Delta tend to have the least convenient travel times for the highest prices.  If I'm just flying for 2-4 hours, I don't mind "cattle class" if I'm saving $300.

 I tend to fly Southwest whenever possible.  At first glance, Spirit and Frontier appear to be a lot cheaper until you factor in that Southwest doesn't charge you for carryons or your first two checked bags and has far more convenient flight times.